Little Talks
by koronda daruma
Summary: Seniors have a lot on their minds. Everything from school to friends. This is hardly about that at all. All that matters is how two girls at Hollywood Arts fall in and out of love. But, can you ever actually fall out of love?


"You seriously haven't decided yet?" Beck asks yet another time today as I feel his arm wrap around my waist. I let out a low grumble in my throat, telling him to back off.

It's not like I can blame him. Applying for colleges, especially competitive ones like the ones everyone from Hollywood Arts would be applying to, is not really something anyone should take lightly. Honestly? I hadn't even thought about going to college until we had to take the SATs. Everyone was stressing out and checking campuses while I just let everything roll by. I want to be famous. I want my work to be appreciated, of course, but I don't want my work to be cookie-cutter material. I don't want to be shaped and molded into the everyday writer. That, and I have more pressing matters on my mind at the moment.

And she just walked past me.

Without a second look, Tori brushes past the two of us, a smile on her face as she makes her way to her locker with a chatty Andre at her side. The way she carries herself with such confidence is so alluring. My eyes are drawn to her smile. They focus on her lips but quickly shift to her eyes when that grin fades. Her brown eyes have caught mine in the act. Hostility fills hers and she quickly turns her face away.

* * *

"Oh my God, the performan-" I could hear Cat's incessant rambling as I toned it out. It had become second nature since she was attached to my side since elementary school. The unexpected performance at the Moonlight Jam had been all that anyone talked about since the week before. It was impressive, I had to admit, but how could they not get sick of talking about the same thing over and over?

"-Vega will be starting today!" I snapped my attention back to the conversation.

"What did you say?"

"I heard that Tori Vega, Trina's sister, is going to come to this school!" Cat squealed and jumped in place a bit. She was always an Eager Ellen when it came to making new friends, even though only a small group of people could actually handle her in large doses.

With all the talk going about her now, I couldn't imagine how popular this chick was going to be. She wasn't hard on the eyes and she did have a voice. She was able to carry her strong confidence through her singing and I _knew_ she wouldn't be anything but trouble.

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms in front of my chest. Beck's sincere smile irked me and I knew he could tell by the way he pulled me closer by my waist and placed a kiss on my temple. I let it slide, for now, and walked away from the group. They headed to class as I went to the bathroom before class started. I walked in just before the bell rang and I let out an internal growl.

"Dude, why you rubbin' my boyfriend?" I snapped when the new girl nervously tried to clean Beck's shirt from the recently spilt coffee. She way she looked at him, I could tell she'd already taken a liking.

"I just-" The new girl opened her mouth to speak but nothing else came out. What happened to the confident 'star' that was on stage that night? I accepted Beck's peck on the cheek but still was not going to let it drop until Sikowitz came bursting through the doors.

When I'm given the chance to choose my actors for an exercise Sikowitz had planned, a smirk crossed my face. This will be too rich. I carefully plotted in my head and chose the appropriate cast. The banter went by quickly as I threw out line after line, with the grand finale of coffee.

Wimp. Complete pushover. I knew from the moment that I had met her that I would walk all over this girl. It was irritating. It was infuriating. I hated how she has no sense of a backbone; she would never stick up for herself. It was to a great, and almost pleasant surprise when she turns it around on me a few days later, stealing a stage kiss from Beck.

I realized at that time that she might not be as pathetic as I thought she was.

To my disdain, the new girl only seemed to get burst of nerve at a time. I'd never seen anyone fail so hard at The Bird Scene before. Three tries? Most of us got it done in one. But that conviction in the end. That passion. I was blown away and I couldn't help but applaud it. Even though I pride myself on my acting, I couldn't hide the proud grin that spread across my face. It was a hard earned and well deserved sign of approval.

After that, I found every possible way to push her buttons. Get a reaction. She could be amazing, but she never spoke up.

"New Girl." I called her from across the hall. I was surprised that she was still here. Most of the students have left by this time of day. "We need to work on that song." We were assigned to compose a song, completely from scratch, from the score to the lyrics. It was a two-week project but since we never said more than two words to each other, it never got anywhere.

I could tell how exhausted she was by the tired look she gave me. The first month had been harsh on her. Anyone could tell that she was not used to the workload, the constant bombardment of projects, or the intense pressure to be more than what you are. But, being the pushover that she was, she just nodded her head and agreed. She followed me like a puppy that hadn't slept in weeks.

I hated it. It irritated me. She would do anything she was asked or told with not a single complaint. She'd never make it past the first semester at this school, let alone in the entertainment world if she kept this up.

"Move." I pushed her aside, out of the seat from the piano. I tossed her an empty notebook and a pen. "Write everything down, let me know what you think."

I played chords for an upbeat song, trying to find harmonies. "G7, C, A-minor" I barked out quickly, changing it as quickly as they popped in my head. She would only look at me completely lost and confused.

"What the hell is wrong with you, give it to me." I saw almost nothing written down, just words and scratched out orders. "Oh my god, don't even tell me." I laughed bitterly, "Can you even read music?"

Her eyes fell down, "I-" she tried to form a sentence.

"What are you even doing here? You clearly don't belong in this place. Most of us have been practicing for _years_." I could tell she was trying to form words in her head but I didn't let up. "You might have gotten here by a stroke of chance, but you won't last. You'll be eaten alive, if you're not running home with your tail between your legs." _Say it_. I pushed hard. _Say what you want to say_. I recognized that look had started becoming familiar to me, the point when she was pushed just beyond her comfort zone.

"Are you listening to me, New Girl?" I snapped my fingers in front of her face, drawing her attention back to me. She fumbled with her bag as I crossed my legs, waiting for anything.

I heard a faint whisper, but nothing that I could make out. "What? Just. Speak. Up." I groaned to let her know my irritation.

"I have a name." It came out as clear as day. Her eyes were not teary like I had expected them to be, but instead they were clear, almost on fire. "Tori. My name is Tori Vega." Her voice filled with conviction. "Stop calling me 'New Girl.' I've been here for almost a month, you could at least have the decency to learn my name."

I admit, I was taken slightly aback by her forwardness, but it wasn't completely unexpected. I _knew_ that this strength was lying within her.

"I may not be able to read music, but it does NOT make me any less talented." She stood from hear seat and looked down at me from her position. "I was _asked_ to come to this school. I did not apply, the principal _personally_ asked me, along with all of your friends and classmates, that I attend this school."

The new girl's fire burned fiercely as I almost felt intimidated. "I have every right, if not more, to be here." There it was. In her voice. In her actions. It was everywhere.

"Move." I felt a smile building up but I suppressed it as much as I could as she pushed me away from the keyboard and started to play a tune, despite not knowing the technicalities of music. Pure, unadulterated, raw talent. Something no one could be taught.

By ear, I wrote down the new melody. "Perfect, _Vega_."

* * *

I push Beck off of me, making my way to my next class that I luckily don't share with either of them. After everything, after two years of this dance, we're 50 paces behind the starting point. We've both grown as people, as actresses, as artists, and as musicians, but not together. The two of us are in worse spot than where we started. I didn't even think that was possible.

I would never admit it, even to this day. I push her as hard and as roughly as I can because I just want to see her be brave.

* * *

**A/N:** This is my first Jori fanfic and I had this idea floating in my head at work. I thought I would throw it out here and see what you guys thought. I haven't written in a really long time and this is a completely different ship, style, tense, and point of view than what I've done before. This is also the only fic that I have planned out in advance. I usually write one chapter at a time and take it as it goes, but, seeing how my other story has been on a hiatus for about a year and has already taken forever, that doesn't work out too well for me. Please, leave feed back and let me know how it is and what you think of it.


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